the Tiger and the Wolf!
by ComicGhost
Summary: El Tigre meets a new foe who can't seem to beat! And this new nemesis isn't one to stop after just one fight!
1. Teaser: A Little Town in Germany

**_Somewhere in Munich, Germany_**

In a small village in Munich, at an outdoor restaurant, sat a young man about Manny's age wearing a white t-shirt with a black skull on it, black trip pants, spiked bracelets, and a belt with a buckle in the form of a wolf's head on it. The young man had black hair parted to the left, and a dissatisfied look on his face. As he sat at his table, a man dressed in a brown fedora pulled down over his face and a trench coat came to his table and sat down.

"Mind if I sit here?" asked the stranger in German.

"Why the hell not?" replied the young man. "I take it you're the great El Arana?"

"How'd you know?"

"Oh, I have my ways. So, what's this assignment you want me to undertake?"

"It regards someone in America. Miracle City to be precise."

"THAT dump? Who lives there that you'd want me to waste him?"

"I don't want you to kill him, only test him. His name is Manny Rivera, but his alias is El Tigre. Among his powers are superhuman physical abilities, regeneration, heightened senses, and, for reasons I can't seem to quite understand, some kind of grappling hook that comes out of his hands. I've heard of your…reputation, and knew that you were the only one who could surpass him in a fight."

"Got that right. So what's the catch?"

"Beat El Tigre in a fight and you get two million dollars in cash."

"Keep the money. All I'm interested in is the fight you promised. If he's as formidable as I've heard, then I want to see to this personally."

"Hmm, you sound confident that you'll win. Anyway, come to the Munich airport tonight around seven fifteen. When you arrive, you'll see a black plane with a red web pattern on it. Go in there, and an entire crew will be waiting for you. When you arrive, a chauffer will be waiting for you to take you to a special warehouse with all the accommodations of a house. From there, you should be able to find Rivera on your own."

"I understand. It will be a…pleasure to do business with you."

"As I agree."

As the two shook hands, the eyes of wolf ring on the young man's hand began to give off an eerie red glow, like twin rubies shone in the light of the full moon…


	2. the Attack

_**Miracle City, Friday morning, 8 a.m., Leone Middle School cafeteria**_

It was a typical morning in Miracle City; the brightness of the sun stabbed the sky like Freddy Kruger does to a teenage girl, the birds were flying, and the sounds of the police and a gang of criminals shooting it out filled the air (ya gotta admit, this is one fucked up town). Inside the Leone School cafeteria, Manny and Frida were sitting at their usual spot talking about whatever was on their minds.

"So did you see last night's _South Park_, Freeds?" asked Manny.

"Nah, we had to pick up my dad from the bar last night." answered the blue haired tomboy. "Apparently, he lost his car keys at the place, and now mom's gotta drive him around town 'til they show up. Why, what happened?"

"It was a rerun of that episode with the Woodland Critter Christmas."

"Aw dude! I shoulda Tivoed that! I love that episode, especially those scenes where Stan finds out the woodland critters worship Satan and where Santa blows them to bits!"

"Totally! By the way, nice Sailor Mars shirt."

"Thanks, man. Y'know, out of all the 'scouts, she and Sailor Jupiter are my favorites."

But as the two friends spoke, they had no awareness of being watched by a pair of menacing eyes from across the cafeteria. Just then, Manny saw a rock come flying through the air straight towards the back of Frida's head.

"Frida."

"Yeah?"

"I'd duck right now if I were you."

"Why?"

But before it reached it's target, a hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed the rock. As Frida turned around, she saw a boy dressed in black and white holding the rock.

"This would be why." replied the young man in a German accent. "And it appears to carry a note."

Taking the note off the rock Frida unfolded the piece of paper, and read the message out loud: "Hey, Suarez, what's it like having the world's largest ass?", and the message was signed Zoe Aves.

"Aves." Frida said in a Batman sounding tone, then turned to her savior and said in a normal tone, "By the way, thanks for saving my head. I'm Frida, and this is my pal Manny."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jaeger Darmench. I just moved here from Germany."

"Germany, huh?" asked Manny.

"_Ja_. I came here on a scholarship from Alsura Tech. Alejandro Alsura himself was amazed at my high grades, and offered me a chance to see the western world for myself. Plus, I heard all about you, Manny Rivera."

"Me? I'm known all the way in Germany?"

"Well, duh. You've got a reputation the size of Batman's. I'm impressed by the all villains you've taken down so far."

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I've had my fights."

"Are you sure there's a villain you can't handle? I mean, a lot of heroes face villains they can't beat alone. Superman had Doomsday, Captain America had the Super-Adaptoid, Batman had Bane, even Thor had his troubles when he fought the Destroyer."

"Nah, I'm positive I can beat any villain. Fog, Toyboy, El Oso, even the now permanently deceased Sartana, I can take 'em all!"

"Well, if you say so…."

And as Jaeger finished his sentence, his eyes gave off an evil little twinkle, and his wolf head ring's eyes began to glow again.

That night, Manny and Frida, in their superhero forms, swung the rooftops of their hometown. But as they swung, they were being watched by a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows.

"Manny, can I ask you something?" asked Frida, with her cheeks slightly blushing.

"Sure. What's on your mind?"

"Well, it's kinda embrassin'."

"I can handle it."

"…Do you think I have a big butt?"

"Say wha?"

"Well, Zoe's note got me wondering about it, and I wanted to hear from someone I trust."

"Frida, why would you even ask me that?! Why not ask your mom or dad?"

"'Cause mom would go on that whole "inner beauty" shit, and dad would just laugh. You're my best friend, so I'd just like your opinion!"

"Well you do scarf down a lot a' churros and browinies like there's no tomorrow…"

"So you really think I've got one, huh?"

"I didn't say that!"

"But you're thinking that! What, you think that I'm gonna end up looking like Roseanne one of these days?! That I'll get so fat that nobody'll take me seriously as a superhero anymore?!"

"Frida, will you just list…"

Before Manny could finish his sentence, he was suddenly knocked jumped on by a shadowy figure, and went sliding a good six feet away, while the figure started to punch him in the face. El Tigre then tried to punch him in the jaw, but the attacker leapt off of him and landed behind him, then kicked him in the back of the skull, sending the Feline Fury flying into a brick wall.

"What the hell?!" screamed a shocked Frida. The mystery assailant turned to her and stared at her with eyes that had the glow of the fires of hell itself, then leapt in the air and Falcon Punched her in the face, causing her to fall down. Meanwhile, El Tigre, having recovered, picked himself up and asked wearily, "Who…are …..you?"

The figure then walked out of the shadows, and stood in the light of the moon. He wore a gray suit with a white underside, a brown belt, gloves and boots, and had a wolf tail. He also had a mask shaped like a wolf head, complete with wolf ears. He then said, with a smirk that partially revealed a fang, "I'm Gray Wolf. And If you think that I'm just another one of those common super villains…think again. Believe you me, Tigre, I'm not the type to give up after one fight."

With these words, Gray Wolf then ran off into the night, while Frida, who's nose was bleeding from the punch, said "Dude, I got a bad feeling about this guy."

"Me too, Freeds", replied Manny, "Me too."

Elsewhere, in a nearby alley, Gray Wolf ducked into the shadows again, and in a flash of bright red light, disappeared…and in his place, there stood Jaeger Darmench, who had a rather arrogant, sickly smirk on his face.

"Well, that was fun…"thought Jaeger. "I'll have to do it again tomorrow…"


	3. the Kidnapping of Frida Suarez

_**Casa Del Macho, Saturday, around 7: 08 am **_

Inside his room, Manny Rivera sat on his bed, covered in bandages from the attack last night. As he watched reruns of _Tales from the Crypt _on TV, his mother, Maria, came in.

"How are you feeling, _mijho_?" she asked with a concerned tone her voice.

"I'm fine, Mom. I'm just really shocked at what happened last night; this guy comes out of nowhere, and beats me and Frida within an inch of our lives, then runs off."

"Well, at least you're all right. But why would just attack you for no reason, and then just run off?"

"I'll try to find that out as soon as the old librarian in this scene gets killed by Blythe Danner.*"

_**The Suarez house**_

As Frida sat on her bed, listening to _Don't Know What You Got 'Til It's Gone _and reading some old Goosebumps books, she thought to herself , "Maybe Aves is right. Maybe I should just cut down on all the food I eat, then I won't have a rear the size of a monster truck when I'm thirty."

But as Frida was busy, she didn't hear the sound of the front door opening; nor the sound of creaking stairs and footsteps in the hall. And when the door to her room was opened, she turned and saw Gray Wolf standing over her, smiling like Venom. Before she could even scream, the wolf themed villain clamped his hand on her mouth, and said in a sadistic tone, "Scream…and I'll slice you're throat open so fast, there won't time to bleed. Now then, you're gonna help me capture your little boyfriend so I can test him for my boss…and I won't accept no for an answer."

_**A Couple Hours Later , at Casa Del Macho**_

In the living room, Maria was watching reruns of _Passions _when the phone rang.

"Damn it", thought Maria as she got up, "It just has to be at the moment when the Blackmailer's identity is about to be revealed."

Picking up the phone, Maria said, "Hello, Rivera Residence", while the person on the other end said in a tone like that of a killer from an eighties' horror movie, _"Hi, is Manny there?"_

"Who may I ask is calling?"

"_Just a friend from school."_

"Manny, phone for you!"

Picking up the phone in his room, Manny said, "Hello."

"_Hey, Rivera. How's it goin'?"_

"Who is this?"

"_That's not important. But what is important is the safety of your friend, Frida Suarez."_

"What have you done with her?!"

"_Nothing…yet. If you want to save her, meet me at the local pier at six fifty two tonight. If not, then she'll have to die."_

"I swear to god, you lay a hand on her…!"

"_Clock's ticking, kiddo. Better hurry."_

Slamming the phone down, Manny ran towards his window, spun his belt buckle, and in a scene out of the Superman movies, instantly transformed into El Tigre, then leapt out the window, and swung off, while at one of the warehouses, Jaeger hung up the phone, while smiling an evil smile. Turning to Frida, whom he had tied up in a chair, he said, "Good news, rump roast: Manny's coming to see you…"

After about an hour of swinging, El Tigre made it to the pier. Skulking around like Batman, the teenage superhero searched for a clue as to where Frida might be, when he reached the sixth warehouse, and saw Jaeger seemingly unconscious at the door. Running over to his new friend, Manny shook him a little, and said "Hey, Jaeger, what're you doing here."

Feigning regaining consciousness, Jaeger looked up to Manny and said "Manny? What's going on?"

"That's what I wanna know. How'd you get here?"

"Strangest thing. I was walking by when I heard the sound of screaming. I followed the sound, and saw Frida tied to a chair. I try to untie her, when I get slammed in the back of the head. Next thing I know, you're standing right in front of me."

"So, you have no idea who did this?"

"_Nein_."

"Well, can you at least show me where Frida is?"

"_Ja_. Follow me."

With Jaeger leading, Manny entered the warehouse. Walking thru the endless maze of boxes, Manny and Jaeger finally reached the center of the building, and sitting there was Frida, whose face was covered in bruises and cuts, her eyes red from tears of pain, and her hair all messed up, with a large strand of hair dangling down her face. Rushing at great speed, Manny ripped the ropes and gag off Frida, and asked "Frida, who the hell did this to you?"

"Manny, we've gotta get out of her, right now! This is all a trap!"

"What?"

"Jaeger set you up! He's the kidnapper…and HE'S ALSO GRAY WOLF!"

"Aw, you told!" replied Jaeger in a sarcastic tone. With an evil grin on his face, Jaeger spun the wolf head on his ring, and in something out of _Spider-Man 3_, was instantly covered in gray, white, and black tendrils that soon formed his costume, and his teeth instantly became razor sharp fangs. With a wicked smile on his face, he said "Shocking isn't it?"

"Jaeger? But…how?"

"My little secret. Now then, wanna get this little fight started…or are you more concerned about little miss blue hair large ass here?"

Filled with a unquenchable anger over what Grey Wolf had done to Frida, Manny turned to his opponent and said "Let's do this…"

*Actual episode, called _Maniac at Large_: Blythe Danner plays a libraian who fears for her life when she keeps hearing reports of a serial killer stalking the town she's moved to.


	4. the Big Showdown

As soon as Jaeger transformed, Manny leapt in the air, about to pounce on his opponent, only for Gray Wolf to leap in the air and spin kick him in the jaw, sending him flying through the wall.

"This is too easy", said Grey Wolf, who then turned to Frida and said, "Wait here, bubble badonkadonk."

"That settles it", thought Frida, "I'm goin' on a diet after this is over."

Outside, Manny, dizzy from the kick, staggered as he picked himself up, and walked around in a daze, like Wile E. Coyote after falling off a cliff. As he struggled to regain his balance, Grey Wolf ran at him at incredible speed, grabbed him in the back of the head, and slammed his face into a nearby brick wall.

"Here's a tip for you, Felix: never keep your eyes off your opponent."

"And here's one for you, Mowgli: if your opponent has regeneration, you never know when he'll recover."

"Huh?"

Before Grey Wolf even knew it, El Tigre got up and fired a grapple claw at him, knocking him down. Now angry that someone had used his own fighting methods against him, Grey Wolf lunged at his feline nemesis, only for El Tigre to dodge his fists, and leap onto a nearby building.

"Running away from a fight? VERRRY unsportsmanlike, Manny!"

"Take one to know one, jerkwad!"

Running off into the city with Grey Wolf in pursuit, Manny thought to himself, "Okay, this guy's gotta have some sorta weakness: Joker's got his insanity, Venom's got sound waves and fire, Shredder's got arrogance, so what's this guy's weakness?"

As the Feline Avenger ran, he saw an unfinished building, and headed there, knowing full well that he and his pursuer could fight inside without hurting anyone. And as Manny headed toward his destination, Jaeger thought to himself, "Huh. I may have underestimated this kid. Oh, well, it doesn't make a difference, so long as I get paid."

Firing his grapple claw in the air, El Tigre swung towards the building, whil Grey Wolf made a Hulk like leap on an apartment building wall, and launched himself from there to the same building. Meanwhile inside said apartment, one of the tenants, a certain nosy neighbor from _Bewitched_ saw the whole thing and yelled to her husband "Abner! Abner! That Rivera boy's being chased by some guy in a wolf costume who just leapt off the building wall!"

"Gladys, this is exactly why we had to leave the neighborhood, people were complaining about your delusions. Now shut up and come to bed."

"But Abner…!"

"Now, or I'll call the mental hospital again and tell them you didn't take your pills this afternoon."

Outside, El Tigre had reached the building project, looking around to see if Grey Wolf had gotten there along with him. But as Manny turned around, Grey Wolf leapt up from the bottom floor, and grabbed him by the shirt.

"You're really gotta work on your escape plans, El Tigre. They're not very good."

After saying this, Grey Wolf lifted up his right hand, extended his claws and slashed Manny right on the chest.

"Madre De Dios!" thought El Tigre, as he tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his chest, "This guy ain't playin' around!"

"Aw, what's the matter, gonna cry? Well, _hart gluck*, _Herr kitty-cat; this is gonna hurt a lot more."

Kneeing El Tigre in the ribs, Grey Wolf then dropped his opponent on the floor, and was about to finish the job, when all of a sudden, a few steel poles slipped onto the floor, and made a loud clanging noise. The vibrations of the steel poles reached the ears of Grey Wolf, who then fell to the floor, clutching his ears, and screaming in pain. Realizing he had found his opponent's weakness, El Tigre got up, his chest sore from the scratch earlier, walked over to his opponent, grabbed him by the shirt and said in an angry tone, "This is for Frida", and punched Grey Wolf in the nose, causing it to spew blood like Niagara Falls.

"Why you little…"

"You want some? You got some!"

Running at each other, Manny and Jaeger began to fight in what had to be the biggest fight of Manny's career. Manny managed to black one of Jaeger's eyes, box his ears and put a gash in his cheek. Now filled with blind fury, Jaeger leapt at Manny, foaming at the mouth wile doing so, only for Manny to punch him the face hard enough to knock him out. After that, Jaeger's costume suddenly began to dissolve, as if it were made of sand, and Manny tied him up chains, keeping his hands separated so as to prevent him from reaching for his ring, and swung off to free Frida. But while El Tigre left, he had no idea that this whole time, the fight was being watched by young woman on the building across from the construction site holding a video camera. She had long platinum blonde hair in a pony tail, wore a small Japanese straw hat, black and white robes like something out of _Bleach_ , a red scarf, a black face cowl, black armbands, and a katana. And on the left side her short sleeved robe shirt was a large red spider symbol.

"Master", she said as she spoke to a hidden com-link in her right band, "I have observed the fight as you requested. All went according to your plan."

"_Excellent Grass Spider. Return to W.E.B.S. Base with the data you recorded so that I may see it for myself."_

"At once, Master."

Leaping into the air like Naruto, Grass Spider thought to herself, "Your cruelty knows no limits, does it, El Arana? No matter who gets killed or injured, you just want to see people suffer. One day, your arrogance will betray you…and I will be there to see you fall."

*German for hard luck


	5. Epilogue: Personal Thoughts

_The Next Night_

In the wine-dark dregs of his lair, El Arana sat at his desk, his eyes attuned to the giant video monitor on the wall behind said desk. With a sickening twinkle in his eye, he watched in glee at the battle between El Tigre and Grey Wolf, recorded by his minion, Grass Spider from the night before.

"Grass Spider outdid herself this time", thought the evil crime lord as he watched the fight over and over again, his lust for carnage becoming more and more satisfied each time he viewed it. "Not only did she capture enough footage for me to study…but she's also made a very happy mass murdering psycho. And now, thanks to her and that fool, Grey Wolf, I now know the greatest weakness of Manny Rivera: He cares too much for those around him. If anything bad were to happen to them, he instantly comes to the rescue, like some damn John Wayne. I could just kill them all to get to him…but then that wouldn't be very nice. Then again, I'M not very nice. So enjoy the rest you've earned, Manny Rivera…it may just be the last one you'll ever take."

Outside the office of El Arana, Grass Spider herself stood outside the door, peering through the small opening in the door, and watching the vile, inhuman fiend she was forced to serve watch the footage she captured repeatedly.

"I know what you're thinking, El Arana", thought Grass Spider, "you damn sadistic bastard. I don't care if I am one of your damn inner circle, or if I'm one of the best assassins you have, I refuse to sit back and let you toy with that young man's life like it was some plaything. You may think yourself invincible right now…but so did Napoleon, Hoffa, Caesar, and Hitler, and everyone knows what happened to them."

_**Miracle City Juvenile Detention Center **_

In his cell, Jaeger sat on his bench, thinking to himself, "How, dammit?! How could have I lost to that little _schnodder*_?! I was stronger and faster, but he still beat me, damn him! Well, _nicht auf sorgen**_; there will be another time…and when that time comes, Manny Rivera's head will adorn my wall…because a wolf eventually escapes from the cage he has been placed in, and always resumes his hunt."

*Snot in German

**Not to Worry in German

**_Eh, I'll just let the next one be a surprise_**


End file.
